dear diary….

by jamesendeacott

we’ve had a load of snow in london today…there’s talk of airports closing and schools being shut tomorrow…the kids were asking me if schools ever shut when i was a kid in the 70’s and early 80’s…i can’t really remember to be honest…once when the toilets froze but they were outside. i think we had more snow when i was younger…we probably didn’t it just feels like it. i guess i was in yorkshire and being young any small flurry would’ve felt biblical. i decided to find out…up in the loft somewhere is a box with 4 diaries. diaries i kept in 1978, 1979, 1982 and 1983…not all complete but snapshots all the same…not sure what happened in 1980 or 1981 either…its very odd looking back at them…some entries bring it all flooding back where others just leave me cold with a large question mark above my head.

i thought it would be fun to share a few entries every now and again…here are a couple of entries from when i was aged 12 and 13…below them is a picture i found on the net of Halifax in 1978 – thanks to magnumphotos.com and especially to martin parr for taking me back to the cold, cobbled streets…

FRIDAY JANUARY 20th 1978

today i bought the new single by the RICH KIDS. It’s called the rich kids. I think it is quite good. Jane stayed the night.

SATURDAY JANUARY 20th 1979

this morning i got up and the place was coverd in snow. In the drifts it was up to my bottom. In the afternoon I walked to town because there were no buses. I did it for a lark. In the evening I went to the Civic Theatre to sell programmes for the concert by the BBC Orchestra – for this i got a free ticket – it was live on Radio 2. There were 4 soloists & i went backstage after the show and got 3 of their autographs. the other one went home.